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Our wedding and after clothes and accessories were in the back of Nich’s SUV. The food was now loaded. The only thing left was delivery, set up, and getting our butts in our dresses. With Nich leading the way, we headed out for the wedding.
The event itself was small, intimate, and funny as hell. The minister got a good wide-eyed shock with the after I do’s shenanigans. Cindy and I laughed so hard we were crying. The love the couples shared was something sweet and quirky. Sort of like what Cindy and I shared as best friends. I could also see Nich or Spencer trying something like that. I mean, if we got married. On the beach…oh damn.
I grabbed a cup from the table and ladled some of the grape juice into it. Thankfully, the girls had us take a few group pictures before the ceremony because the ones Mrs. Elsie had us pose for after, those would be priceless.
Brenna was soaking wet, her hair a mass of staticky locks, makeup smeared. Noah and Abel were both jacketless, toes crooked, soaked to the core, and Mara looked as pristine as a princess. The fun memory of the ceremony would live on forever.
We’d come in to change out of the wedding attire into more comfortable clothes. I had on a dark purple dress that landed just above my knees, leggings, boots, and I’d pulled my hair back into a messy top knot.
But I had nothing on the others. “You both look beautiful.” I hugged Mara and Brenna again.
“Well, I did until my husband decided I needed a bath.” Brenna cut a look at Abel, who only grinned back at her. “The hot shower felt good though. I couldn’t be bothered to put on makeup again.”
“You don’t need makeup, heffa.” Mara wrapped her arm around Brenna’s waist.
“Why did he do that?” I asked in a hushed whisper.
“He probably needed to cool off his junk. He thinks of nothing but getting into Brenna’s drawers. I swear the man is worse than a horny dog in heat,” Mara said, with a straight face.
“Jealous sister-in-law?” he shot back.
“Not a chance. I got the brother who has more sense, stamina, and better skills between the sheets. Or did you forget why you and Brenna moved to your place? We were too noisy…” She took a sip of her drink, a smug look on her face.
“No, that's so I can free-ball it.”
I sputtered, choking on my drink.
“Jesus, don’t kill the woman, you two.” Brenna patted my back as she herself laughed. I tried to suck in air. The fact that I was laughing hysterically wasn’t helping. Cindy started laughing then, and I was a goner.
“You two stop that right this minute,” Mrs. Elsie scolded them. “The minister can hear you.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Elsie, but I’m a married man. There’s no need to censor yourself around me.” He chuckled.
Nich’s arm wrapped around me. “Do you need CPR, baby? A little mouth-to-mouth?”
I swatted his arm. “You’re as bad as the rest of them.”
He chuckled. “Possibly. I plead the fifth.”
“Love, are you causing trouble?” I watched Noah slide an arm around her and grin.
“Maybe. It could be the lack of food…”
“Go, go and eat. There’s plenty.”
Everyone took my advice and swarmed the tables in earnest. Of course, Hippie too needed some treats along the way. The pup loved anything you’d give him.
A few hours later, Cindy and I had said goodbye to everyone, packed up the food, and dispersed it between the minister, Elsie, and ourselves before we headed back to our shops. I’d hated to do it, but I had to kiss Nich goodnight there. He wouldn’t be coming back with us; he had to head into work for a few hours—which sucked.
Cindy and I parted ways after everything was unloaded and the van was cleaned up. I was beyond ready to crash. I'd been up since just after 4:00am… It was now almost 3:00pm. My bag was over my shoulder, keys in hand. Ten minutes and I could be home, getting ready to have a nice, long, hot soak in the tub with a glass of wine and soft music filling the room.
I looked back at the kitchen and the disgusting platters, utensils, and catering gear. Groaning, I set my bag down, careful to not jostle the bowls of food too much. I hated to leave the dirty platters for the next day. Unlike Cindy, I’d not thought to buy the ones you could just toss away. Though, to be fair, I did think about it but got busy and just forgot to actually go back to get them. And parchment paper wasn’t acceptable for a wedding.
The stainless steel trays I used for these sorts of affairs were old, but you wouldn’t know that to look at them. A few pieces belonged to my grandmother, a few were from my mom, and the rest I’d found at antique stores. The key to keeping them looking like new: careful cleaning and my secret weapon, Bar Keepers Secret. It could literally restore life to the old pieces. A little water, some powder, and a decent amount of elbow grease.
And not letting them sit for too long with crusted food on them. With effort, I moved to the counter by my big industrial sink and turned on the water. Plugging the drain, I adjusted the temp. I wanted hot, but not ‘burn your skin off’ hot. The skin on my palm was still sensitive to extreme temps, but the thick yellow gloves I would put on would help with that.
I tied an apron around me, flipped on the radio, and smiled, grabbing my phone to text Nich.
